This festival combines a traditional Renaissance fair with a classical music festival. Classical composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart would be played through the festival area. The area is decorated to look like an Old English village and includes activities such as archery (with safe foam darts) and horseshoes (rubber horseshoes). The middle schoolers dress in Renaissance costumes. The festival also can include some Renaissance musical instruments, such as the lyre, wooden flute and the English horn.
A jazz music festival is another engaging event for middle schoolers. The middle school administration organizes a jazz music parade on the school grounds complete with trumpeters, saxophonists and jazz singers. Selections from jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane are played over the intercom at periods throughout the day. This event also can be incorporated into Black History Month activities at the school.
An international music festival is a wonderful way for middle schools to celebrate both cultural diversity and music education. Throughout the school, stations celebrate the musical traditions of various cultures, including African music, European music, music of island nations and Asian music. Each station showcases instruments, musical recordings and famous musicians from the particular region in focus.
This final music festival idea for middle schools is "American Music in the 1900s." Different areas of the school are organized around the American musical trends of a particular decade of the 1900s. For instance, one area focuses on the 1920s and the Big Band music that was popular at that time. Another area features the doo-wop bands of the 1950s. Yet another area focuses on the psychedelic music of the 1960s.